Changes
by Stormpath
Summary: Winning the championship still didn't solve all the financial problems for Ooarai forcing the school to become coed by increasing enrollment numbers. Meanwhile a once prestigious school is being closed and it's students are coming to Ooarai.


Getting used to changes, to a new environment, it is an unpleasant procedure. Sticking to same habits and creating daily rituals forms a certain comfort zone from which individuals rarely venture out on their own and once that zone is shaken and disturbed, the person behind it can easily feel frightened or at least pensive towards the changes. But it is said that without changes, there are no improvements, so they are regularly made and the people affected by them are left to adapt and restore the balance lost in their lives.

One big change was the reason Hitoshi Tonikawa was currently leaning over the railing and looking out onto the ocean, a bit lost with his thoughts. Tomorrow was a big day. His school was closing and the prospect of going to another one had instilled more than one worrying thought. Especially because the new school was, till this point, an all girls school and the merge with his coed school would certainly take time getting used to. He was concerned about the reception of the male proportion of his school. Will the other students just accept them? And how will the professors react? Would his grades suffer? A hundred of these small questions have been buzzing around his brain for the last month and now the day before the merge, he was trying to escape everything. However, every time he tried to phase out everything, his thoughts returned back to the downfall of his school and the uncertainty of the next day. Deep down inside he wanted to slow down time, wanting for the next day to arrive slightly later. But time was unchanging and eternal, caring not for whims of mere mortals and the sun was slowly setting down.

Meadows Ridge High School was once a large and decently prestigious school and in the hearth of it was a large tankery team. However, ten years ago, the image and school's influence had started falling and have been on a decline ever since. And with it, the number of students and the amount of government funding was in a constant downward spiral. Finally, facing almost half empty classrooms and very thin budget, the school was forced to be closed.

The Meadows Ridge High School's decline was almost evenly matched by the fall of it's tankery team. Three years in a row, in what was to be a ridiculous amount of bad luck, they had faced Kuromorimine's team in the opening round and in all three years, they had lost. The year after, it was Pravda and another lost year was chalked in. The first round defeats coupled with the fact that Kuromorimine had won the championship every year had instilled a severe lack of interest for tankery in Meadows High. Freshmen were simply picking other electives and members of the tankery team were barely finding people to keep the team standing. As the years passed by the interest continued to dwindle, forcing the school to start selling tanks seeing how more and more were being unused and were simply collecting dust in the warehouses. Money coming from tank sales was used to promote other activities or simply to fix holes in the school's budget.

The desperation to keep tankery reached it's peak last year when the team's leader had made a controversial decision. As the number of freshem who had chosen tankery as their elective last year was basically nil, the commander, in agreement with the school's council, had decided to invite the other gender into tankery as last desperate attempt to keep tankery tradition going in Meadows Ridge. At first it had caused an uproar in Japanese tankery community however, seeing it as an act of a dying man taking his last breath and coming from a school long fallen form grace, the proposed sanctions were glossed over and everything was subsequently swept under the rug. The international community had mixed opinions, the more liberal countries, mainly from Central and Western Europe and America had deemed it as a step in the right direction although not quite big enough. The more conservative countries, which were traditionally only allowing women into tankery, judged the decision harshly, commenting it was destroying years of tradition.

The response from the male community was as expected, barely any had shown interest in a purely female dominated sport. The three first year students who had chosen tankery as their elective were marked for the rest of their stay at Meadows Ridge High.

The first one, and the one who had eventually roped in the other two, was Okabe Tanaso. Okabe, well, he was different. From the early age he was interested in tanks and anything tank related. This had eventually led to him discovering tankery. He had quickly figured out that there was a slim chance of him ever operating a tank or fighting in a tournament but he kept hoping on. His hopes were suddenly bolstered when some European and American countries had created mixed teams and changed the face of tankery forever. From that day on he could be regularly seen watching various international matches and was an avid fan of a certain British team by the name of Steel Dragoons. It put him in an awkward spot among his peers of whom many openly mocked him. But he was a person who cared not about peer pressure and could easily shrug off any kind of jabs directed at him. The change of policy in Meadows High was like a gift from heaven and Okabe, riding high on emotions, had to get his best friends to try the best thing since sliced bread.

The first one he had managed to convert to his cause was Takeshi Navarovski, although there really wasn't much persuasion required. Takeshi was a product of a mixed marriage. His mother was Japanese but his father was Russian and had some deep involvements with the Russian mafia. Although the marriage wasshort-lived, and Takeshi had only minor memories of his father, he was forever marked as a son of a mobster. That combined with his height, a strong build and a slightly unapproachable attitude made making friends difficult. He never cared much about school and was always more occupied by fiddling with any mechanical device in his reach. Takeshi first met Okabe in middle school after he had easily fixed Okabe's computer thus allowing him to watch the 7th Open European Tankery Championship. Soon after the event, they became fast friends, with Okabe regularly helping Takeshi with school and tests while Takeshi would always gladly fix anything broken in Tanaso household.

Third man in the trio was Hitoshi Tonikawa. A much more difficult man to turn to tankery. He moved in the town during his second year in middle school and as he now shared the neighborhood with Takeshi and Okabe, they became friends. At first he was stunned with Takeshi's almost flippant attitude towards education and Okabe's weird interests in tankery but he soon accepted their quirks commenting it was refreshing to see such diverse interests. Among the trio it was often joked that Hitoshi was the sane one and would often mend any disputes between Takeshi and other students.

When he had heard about the open positions in the school's tankery team he ignored it and didn't spare any more thoughts about it. Ofcourse he had underestimated the size of Okabe's reaction to the announcement and after Okabe started cajoling him into tankery, a heated discussion followed. In the end, he had begrudgingly accepted to pick tankery as an elective, seeing as he was doing favor to the other two. Takeshi, although not particularly interested in tanks or tankery, would be surrounded by machinery making the elective basically vacation for him and Okabe would be fulfilling his childhood fantasies. And if his friends were happy, Hitoshi could also be satisfied even if it caused issues on other fronts.

The decision to invite boys into tankery eventually prolonged the team's life. Girls on the team were thankful, but still felt unease during first few weeks when they were teaching guys how to operate a tank. Meanwhile the rest of the student body had a few laughs and jabs for the boys while others simply looked at the trio thinking they were crazy. The biggest problem, at least for Hitoshi, came from his parents. Unlike Okabe's parents who gave up on trying to persuade Okabe from anything tank related or Takeshi's mother who accepted anything Takeshi picked for his future as long as he stayed away from crime, Hitoshi's parents were more than dissatisfied with his elective pick. A small wedge was driven between him and his parents and no matter how much he tried ti explain his actions, the relationship became strained.

As the year passed, the three of them became somewhat proficient in operating a tank. It was mostly because the team had, including them, only two more operational tanks and enough members to man them so senior members had time to teach them the ropes. Lack of funding had limited the number of training hours to save on fuel and spare parts but never the less, an occasional free for all would be organised and even if he would not admit it to anyone, Hitoshi was growing up on tankery.

The year passed by, third year students moved on with their lives and new people started attending Meadows Ridge High. Thankfully the vacant spots in the team got filled in and tankery was preserved for an another year. However roughly a month ago, it was announced that the school was closing down and students would be merged with another school. The signs and obvious degradation were there for the last few years so on one hand this development should not have been surprising, yet it shook the student body. Some were excited, others were worried, yet everyone agreed that the rest of the year was going to be interesting. A chapter, however small, was ending and a Hitoshi couldn't help but reminisce about his best moments here.

„I knew I would find you here."

Hitoshi turned his head towards the source of the voice. A small smile played on his lips. „Ah, Takeshi-san, what brings you here?"

„Well someone has to stop you two from moping around. And besides, I need some help."

„Help?" , Hitoshi asked, arching an eyebrow.

„It is Okabe-san. He is still back at the compound and you are the one who is good with words", Takeshi jerked his thumb, motioning behind his back. „Help me pry him away from the garages before the commander sees he is still there and throws him out."

„He is still hanging around that tank? ", Hitoshi looked at his watch. „But it is almost eight o'clock! And he still has packing to do!"

„Don't be so hard on Okabe. You know what this means for him."

„Yeah.", he sighed. „Alright, let's go get him before he decides to spend the night there."

Takeshi chuckled shortly before they both started the trek towards the garages.

Roughly half an hour later, they had arrived in front of the garages. The large shutter was open and inside were three neatly parked and recently cleaned tanks. On the left, painted in a dull orange color was a 75/34 Semovente, in the middle with a drab brown coloring, a Panzer III was standing, and finally, on the right, was a white British Crusader tank and sitting in the shadow nearby was Okabe, looking longingly at the Crusader. Hearing people approaching, Okabe turned towards the incoming footsteps.

„Hitoshi-san, Takeshi-san, I guess you have come for me.", Okabe managed a small smile.

„You have been sitting here for the better part of the day. I understand this is hard for you but it is getting quite late and you can't keep sitting here forever. "

There was a long pause.

„Okabe?"

„Are we ever going to do tankery again?"

„I... I'm n-"

„I'm sure we will, Hitoshi-san will figure something out.", Takeshi said, firmly clasping Hitoshi's shoulder.

Hitoshi turned his head sharply at Takeshi. A silent understanding passing between them. Yes, he will try. Hitoshi wasn't optimistic about their chances and has already given up all hope but for his friend, he was going to do all he can. He turned back to Okabe's questioning look.

„I'm not sure.", he rubbed the back of his neck. „I'm going to talk with Fujita-san tomorrow and to Ooarai's commander as soon as possible. The chances, although slim, are still there. However remember one thing, this last year and a half. Nobody can take that away from you.

„And a few guys can boast about operating a tank!", Takeshi chipped in.

„I doubt they'd want to.", a smile showed on Okabe's face and there was a glint in his eyes. „But it was a wild run, wasn't it? Alright, let's get going."

He stood up and started dusting of dirt from his clothes with his hands.

„Now that all this mushy stuff is over, let's go to my place. I will make us something good to eat to remember our time at Meadows Ridge."

Minutes later they were at Takeshi's apartment. Once there Takeshi excused himself to the kitchen while Hitoshi and Okabe sat around the table and talked about the new school. Eventually the talk turned back to tankery and Okabe talked with gusto about Ooarai's new tankery team and the exciting finals in which Kuromorimine's comeback to the top was halted by a novice team. They both remembered the look of pure joy on Fujita's face when she saw the white flag pop on Kuromorimine's Tiger tank. A degree of hatred towards Kuromorimine was always present in almost all Meadows Ridge's tankery commanders for the past decade. Many of them were putting a part of blame on Kuromorimine for the decrease in tankery's popularity in Meadows Ridge.

Once food hit the table, the focus moved on with the boys talking about good times at Meadows Ridge and sharing more than one good laugh at various people, events and escapades they had gotten into. Time flew by in a good atmosphere and when it got late, they parted ways, everyone's spirits higher than earlier that day.

Back in his apartment, Hitoshi finished packing his belongings and after taking his medications, he hit the bed. Even though the questions about tomorrow were still nagging around his head, he knew that whatever the next day at Ooarai brings, he would have his friends there with him to help. Sleep came quickly and with it the new day.

* * *

><p>Yes, it has been done before, trying to get guys into tankery. It can be considered as a spit directed towards the whole idea of the show, but the basic premise that only girls drive tanks felt ridiculous to me. Mixed crews would have been fine but all out girl crews? C'mon... I feel that getting boys into tankery can at least make the setting feel more diverse.<p>

Anyways this is just an intro chapter, establishing a few characters. Hope that at least someone had enjoyed it.


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